


They Didn't Talk About Such Things

by thatsoccercoach



Series: Which Door? [7]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: GWW, Modern AU, family life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-22 00:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14296293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach
Summary: Jamie and Claire talked about a lot of things. There was one thing they didn't talk about.





	They Didn't Talk About Such Things

                                                                             [](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/470344754827893625/)

When they were beginning to get to know one another they talked. Often. Deeply. Emotionally.

They talked about everything with one another. Random, inconsequential things like the fact that though Claire knew exactly how many bones she had set, she’d never broken one herself. He talked about his father taking him for first hair cut, which he distinctly remembered, and how his mother had cried over her baby’s curls being gone.

They dared to share their fears, big and small. He was terrified of spiders, she of eating something only to find out she was allergic to it as she went into anaphylactic shock. He worried that he wouldn’t be able to protect his family from life’s painful events. She dreaded being alone, not _having_ her newfound family at all.

They made plans. Jamie shared his dreams for the home they would have together one day and how that would unfold. Claire made plans for the hike they’d take that weekend, just the two of them spending time together alone.

As their family grew and they faced new situations their conversations changed. Family asleep, Claire would curl up on her side and nudge Jamie with her arse until he sidled up behind her. They’d wonder what they’d do if someday one of the children would need braces, or glasses, or how they would help pay for college. Late into the night they’d discuss their daughter’s timid personality and whether it was enough to encourage her to be who she was or if they needed to push her to stand up for her thoughts and opinions and to be assertive. And what of the dog? Should they get another dog so that their pup would have someone to play with during the day if they were out?

But there was one thing they didn’t discuss. Both had learned it was easier that way. The tension started soon after they had gotten married and even their children knew, “Mama and Da didn’t talk about such things.”

Claire didn’t even enjoy rugby all that much, honestly. Jamie absolutely did. Ian, Jenny, and Murtagh were all invested fans. Now wee Jamie, Maggie, Faith, and Bree all watched and cheered as well, passionately declaring their allegiance to the Scottish team and wearing tiny replica jerseys. The Fraser and Murray babies were too small to care much though Claire didn’t doubt that they’d be swept up in the madness soon enough.

There’d been no problems at all the first few times they’d watched games together. Jamie had needed to point out important players or explain rules that Claire hadn’t fully understood before. She’d grown up used to soccer (or futbol depending on where she and Uncle Lamb were) and her uncle had followed his favorite team, Manchester United, in the English Premier League no matter which country was their “home” at the time. Rugby was different and it took some getting used to.

The real issue began when Scotland played England. Not the first few times, when Scotland had won, but when England won. It hadn’t mattered that she didn’t actually care who came out ahead. She hadn’t cheered for England _at all_. But being a _sassenach_ meant that automatically, in regards to the game, she was the enemy. The tension was so thick it was reminiscent of the old saying: it really could have been cut with a knife.

* * *

“Och, weel brathair,” Jenny had looked at him slightly askance. “I suppose now ye’ll be going home wi’ yer sassenach then?” She looked as if she was ready to burn Claire at the stake for having originated from the country that had beaten _her_ team.

“Aye Janet,” Jamie sighed. It could have been Claire’s imagination but he looked reluctant to take her home. He pulled himself out of the dented spot in the couch upon which he had been sulking and went to put his shoes on and go home without a single backward glance at his wife.

Claire stood, nonplussed, then bade farewell, “I suppose we’re leaving now. And we’ll se you,” she paused. Usually they scheduled their next visit as they were leaving Ian and Jenny’s place but since Jamie was nowhere to be found she didn’t know what to say. “Um, we’ll see you next time!”

Jenny didn’t even dignify her with a response but Ian whispered under his breath to her, “Dinna fash, lass. Frasers dinna listen to anything when they’ve their danders up. When they’ve shouted themselves out, sometimes ye can make them see reason, but not ‘til then.”

“Is this seriously about _rugby?_ ” she whispered as she backed out of the room toward the hallway and the front door.

Ian followed her out while Jenny remained in the room, cleaning up the dishes from their snacks with more clanking and crashing than was strictly necessary. “Aye. Ye canna think that Jamie would be so cross about anything else. He loves ye like nothing else and I canna see him ever behaving this way over something that _truly_ matters to ye both.”

The front door slammed shut as Jamie apparently made his escape to the car. Without her. She huffed in frustration then looked back at Ian.

“I don’t understand. He’s upset so he’s not talking to me and that’s _not_ a bad thing?” Damn stubborn Frasers.

“I’ve kent Jamie since we were bairns. He’d tell ye anything, Claire. He always will, once he’s cooled his Fraser temper down. He kens that rugby is enough to upset ‘im but not worth enough to discuss wi’ ye though. Like politics and religion at a family dinner, aye?”

“The utter fool,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes at Ian.

“Aye,” Ian grinned. “But he’s yer utter fool and ye better get out there so he doesna drive off wi’ out ye!”

* * *

“What the hell, Jamie?” she hissed at him as she slid into bed that night. They were _not_ going to sleep without talking about this.

“Och, I’m sae sorry, Claire,” he threw himself roughly onto their bed, bouncing her in the process.

She turned a disgusted look on him and he quickly slid away from her side of the mattress. “I _know_ you love rugby and that your team didn’t fare well today, but I don’t honestly even care about the game. Why should it matter to you if England won if it doesn’t even matter to _me_?” Her voice had risen in pitch through her entire diatribe and she gasped for breath by the end.

“It’s exactly because of that,” he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Look,” he began haltingly. “If ye said that someday ye wouldna even discuss havin’ one of our bairns christened, I’d likely argue wi’ ye. I’d like to think I’d be calm about it, but it’s like that I wouldna be. It matters to me and I’d make sure ye understood that.”

He sat upright on their bed now, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. “Or if ye said that ye wanted to quit healing people because ye werna good enough at it, I’d argue wi’ ye just to tell ye how wrong ye were.”

“Don’t you see, Claire? This makes me mad because I’m competitive but it isna worth fighting for. Maybe ‘tis worth not mentioning again, but certainly not worth saying harsh words o’re.” He reached out and paused then took her hand in his. “I dinna want to fight and I ken I’ve a temper.”

“You bloody foolish Scot,” she whispered. “You’re refusing to speak to me about rugby because you _love_ me?” she quirked her brows at him.

“Aye,” he said as if that was patently obvious. “Have I not just been saying so?”

They did talk of a good many things worth arguing over in the course of their life together, but everyone knew that when it came to England’s rugby team vs Scotland’s rugby team, they didn’t talk about such things.


End file.
